Wall panel



Nov.2,1954 v H. H. CRAFTON 2,693,256 WALL-PANEL Filed Oct. 15, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEY Nov. 2, 1 954 H. H. CRA-FTON WALL PANEL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 001;. 15, 1948 WALL PANEL This invention relates to a metal wall panel and particularly to a prefabricated insulated wallpanel unit for use in the construction of a building.

The invention has for an object to provide a novel and improved prefabricated insulated metal Wall panel unitjwhich may be economically manufactured, and easily erected, and in which provision is made for enabling the various elements of the panel unit to be assembled in a manner such as to provide the panel. with a's'mooth exterior surface free of visible fastening means on both sides of the same. 1

With this general object in view and. such others as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the insulated "metal wall'panel unit hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims at the end of this specification. j

In the drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention Fig. l is alfront elevation of a portion of 'a'wall' embodying the present insulated metal panel unit, Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views taken on the lines L-Z, 3--3 and 44 respectively of Fig. 1, Fig'. Sis a cross-sectional view taken on the line 55 o'fFig. 1, Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on the line 66 'of Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 is a perspective viewof a tie piece or spacing member to be referred to.

In general the present invention contemplates a novel prefabricated insulated metal wall panel unit particularly adapted for use in the construction of the exterior closure walls of a building and which comprises an insulated metal panel embodying two spaced sheet metal outer components or facing sheets secured together by inter-. vening transversely extended and vertically spaced U-.

shaped 'tie" pieces orchannel spacers formed in L-shaped half, sections, one half section being fastened to each facing sheet and the half sections being connected.- together during assembly to form aunitary and relatively rigid panel structure. The assembled panel unit ishalso'provided with an insulating core which may vcomprise preformed semi-rigid insulating boards preferably of non-combustible material, such as fiber glass, loosely placed between the two sheets and slightly compressed therebetween during assembly of an individual panel unit thus providing a panel structure having suflicient insulating characteristics. In practice, the two metal facing sheets may be fabricated from the same or dissimilar metals such as aluminum, low carbon steel or stainless steel, and the spacing members 16 may be likewise fabricated from sheet metal, preferably aluminum, or may comprise a protected sheet metal having a nonmetallic covering bonded thereto.

When the panels are used in the construction of some types of buildings, either for exterior walls or for interior walls, it may be desirable that both surfaces of the panels be free from visible fastening means so as to provide smooth and uninterrupted surfaces on both sides of the wall. In the assembly of the panel elements, the employment of conventional spot welding procedures for securing the parts together so as to enable the panel surfaces to be free of visible fastening means is precluded by the dissimilarity of the metals or by inaccessibility of the elements to be spot welded.

' In accordance with the present invention, the individual panel units are made up of similar half panel sections each half panel section including a facingsheet and a spacer portion. The spacer portions are adapted to be connected together to form a unitary and relatively rigid panel unit, and provision is made for secur- United States Patent 0 1 ing the spacer members to the facing sheets by means of welding buttons carried by and having a portion extended through the spacer member adapted to be spot welded to the facing sheet. The expedient of fabricating the panel member in two substantially identical half panel sections permits the use of welding buttons on both sides of the panel unit thus producing a panel structure free of visible fastening means on each exterior surface.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention both of the facing sheets may be flat and in assembling a unit the insulating boards are placed against the inner surfaces of one facing sheet and the other facing sheet is placed ontop of the insulation whereupon the two half sections may be bolted together. A non-conductive fibrous membrane may be placed between the insulating boards and one of the facing sheets to reduce to a mini-. mum thermal conduction between the two facing sheets.

Referring now to the drawings, the novel prefabricated insulated wall panel unit indicated generally at 10 comv prises, in general, two sheet metal facing sheets 12, 14 secured together by intervening transversely extended and longitudinally spaced tie pieces, preferably U-shaped channel spacers formed by two L-shaped half sections 16 attached to their respective facing sheets to form two substantially identical half panel sections arranged to be secured together in the assembly of the panel unit by connecting elements formed on the L-shaped half sections to provide a unitary and relatively rigid panel structure. As illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 each L-shaped section 16 is provided with bent up web portions 17 at either end arranged to be connected by bolts 19 and nuts 21 to corresponding bent up web portions formed on the other L-shaped section. The panel unit is provided with insulation between the facing sheets and preferably the insulation comprises a semi-rigid non-combustible in sulating board 26 of substantial thickness forming a core sheet between the metal facing members 12, 14. A fibrous membrane such as a felt or saturated felt membrane 28 may be interposed between one side of the insulating board 26 and a facing sheet to avoid a metal to metal contact between the assembled facing sheets, thus reducing thermal conduction between the sheets to a minimum.

In practice the individual wall panel units are pref-- erably prefabricated in the. shop ready for erection with other panel units in the field and, as shown herein, each facing sheet is provided with interlocking side edges comprislng tongue and groove elements 30, 32 at opposed marginal edges for joining adjacent panels side by side during the erection of the wall.

1 cated at 34 to provide offset portions arranged for telescopic'engagement in a manner such as to provide smooth exterior end lap ]Ol11lZS.

The preferred method of assembling an individual wall panel unit in the shop to provide exterior surfaces free of v s ble fasteningmeans is to first secure the L-shaped half sections 16 to their respective facing sheets, and as illustrated in detail in Fig. 6 one leg 36 of each half section is preferably secured to its facing sheet by a welding operation utilizing a welding button 38 having a head or flange portion 40 arranged to engage the inner surface of the leg 36 and having a welding portion 42 extended through a preformed opening 44 in the leg 36 and lnto contiguous engagement with the inner surface of the facing sheet. The spot welding portion 42 of the welding button is preferably made of a thickness conforming substantially to the thickness of the facing sheet 16 and may also be provided with a central upset portion 43 in order to enable an efiicient spot welding operation to be performed. The diameter of the welding portion 42 is preferably of a size such as to provide a snap fit into the preformed opening 44 and the parts Patented Nov. 2, 1954,

by the spacer sections 16 and the width of the panel, are then placed against the inner face of one of the facing sheets and the felt or saturated felt non-conductive fibrous membrane 28 may be placed on topof the insulating boards 26. The other half panel sectlon also provided with the L-shaped spacer sections :16 ,1s then placed on top of the first panel section to al gn the bent up web portions 17 of the L-sections which are bolted together by the bolts 19 and nuts 21. In securing the half sections together the insulating sections 26may be slightly compressed to provide a firmly packed insulating core between the facing sheets of the panel. It will be observed that the tongue and groove portions 30, '32 of opposed facing sheets 12 14 are preferably offset with relation to each other so that assembly of two adjacent panel .units may be effected by movmg one panel into line with the plane of the adjacent panel. As best shown in Fig. the connecting web portions 17 of the spacing members 16 arealso oifset with relation to the tongued and grooved ends .of the facing sheets to provide clearance for attaching'the spacers together .by the bo1ts19 and nuts 21. It will also be observed that the spacer members 16 are provided with cutout portions to form .an elongated opening 50 between the assembled spacer members to minimize weight.

The :spacing members 16 may be fabricated from a metal preferably aluminum or from .a protected metal sheet having a non-metallic covering bonded thereto, such as the protected metal sheet disclosed in the U. 8.. Patent No. 1,862,332, to Coffman, issued June '7,, 1932.

The employment of the present welding buttons '38,, in addition to permitting spot welding attachment of sheets fabricated from dissimilar metals, is also .of particular advantage in attaching a protected metal sheet having a non-metallic outer covering, to a plain metal sheet, the welding button being fabricated from the same metal as the sheet to which it is to be welded, and extended through a preformed opening in the protected metal sheet to which it is anchored by the flanged portion 40 of the welding button.

In the erection'of a wall, such as shown in Fig. .1, a series of insulated panel units are secured in contiguous relation with the tongues 30 of one panel in interlocking engagement with the grooves 32 of the correspondingmember of the adjacent panel, the grooves being preferably provided with a caulking compound before erecting the panels, and the upper and lower ends of adjacent panels are telescopically interlocked, as illustrated at 34. The wall panels may be secured to the frame of the building in .any usual or preferred manner, and as herein shown, the upper ends of the panel units may be bolted, as by bolts 52 and nuts 54 to one flange 56 0f an angle support attached to the building and the lower ends of the panel units may be similarly secured by bolts 58 and nuts 60 to one flange 62 of van angle support attached to the floor of the building, as shown in detail in 'Figs. 2 and 4.

As illustrated in detail in Fig. 3 a third supporting member comprising a channel support 64 forming va part of the building structure may be provided at th end lap joint 34 and to which-the panel unitsare secured by bolts 66 and nuts 68.

From the above description it will .be observed that the present construction of panel provides a unitaryand relatively rigid wall panel unit free of visible exterior fastening means and which is light in weight, may be economically manufactured and quickly and easily erected. The present panel units also lend themselves to being easily demounted and re-erected when it is desired to alter the position of a wall section without destroying or impairing the structural integrity of the panel units.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been herein illustrated and described it will be understood that the invention may he embodied in other forms within the :scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed .is:

l. A panel unit, comprising: two confronting identical half sections, each half section comprising a facing sheet having one side edge thereof turned inwardly to form a tongue and the other side edge turned inwardly and reversely bent to form a groove, the half esctions being disposed with the tongue .of one half section adjacent the groove of the other half sectionandat the same side edge of the unit; identical metal tie pieces of angular shape mounted on the inner face of each of said Ehalf sections, each tie piece having one leg disposed parallel .to its associated sheet and being welded thereto and having a second leg disposed at right ,anglesto its associated sheet, the second leg of each tie piece being provided at one end with a cut-out portion adjacent the grooved sideedge of its associated sheet and extending therebeyond .and the other end of the second leg of each .tie piece terminating short of the tongue end of its associatedsheet, the second leg of each tie piece being provided at its opposite ends with a web portlon extending parallel to its associated sheet, the web portions of .the tie pieces abutting each other; and means extending through the abutting web portions and securing the half sections together.

2. A panel unit as defined in claim 1, wherein :the tongue at the side edge of one half section ,is offset relative to thegroove at the same ,sideedge of the other half section.

3. Apanel unit as defined incla'im .1, wherein the second legs of the tie pieces of the .two half sections have confronting edges that are spaced from one another by an opening extending substantially the full width of the panel unit and wherein the interior of the panel unit is filled with insulation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

